VOX POPULI: London

Indonesian-born artist Fiona Tan has been commissioned to make London the focus of the fifth and final installment of her Vox Populi series. Following her work in Norway, Sydney, Tokyo and Switzerland, Tan now uses the family photograph albums of Londoners. By lending their albums, the contributors confer onto the artist the unique access to domestic imagery ranging from the celebratory to the mundane. Intuitively themed by Tan, the work presents an intimate and collective image of London, calling into question the notion of self-representation and the consumption of those representations of one another. Also featured is a text by Brian Dillon, editor of Cabinet.

VOX POPULI: Sydney

Fiona Tan

Eleven Boys, One Girl

After working early in his career with contemporary materials like steel and resin, Japanese sculptor Koji Tanada turned to a material that underlined his cultural identity: wood, specifically mokucho, the traditional Japanese wood-carving technique that began with artisans making Buddhist figures in the pre-modern age. He was also fascinated by late-Gothic German carving. This book features his figures of children, remarkably touching and tender pieces, exquisitely detailed down to protruding ribs and single strands of hair. He then paints the surfaces in a proprietary combination of acrylics and floor wax, creating strangely realistic and individual figures. These works balance conceptual and concrete, innocence and maturity, vulgarity and holiness.

Growth

Canadian-born, Brussels-based artist Zin Taylor has become known internationally
for his elaborate installations encompassing elements of performance and sculpture
along with drawing, printing, and video. The multifaceted works in this artist
book/exhibition catalog are often culled from the undergrowth of popular culture
(especially the underground music scene) and contemporary art lore. The spoken and
printed word in all its forms – journalism, research, storytelling – figures prominently
in Taylor’s practice, and many of his installations have also been accompanied
by publications and/or artist books. Contributing essays by Dan Adler, Esperanza
Rosales, Dieter Roelstraete, Mark von Schlegell and Zin Taylor.

Lichen Voices | Stripes and Dots

Rosemary Heather & Nicolaus Schafhausen (Eds.)

This catalogue accompanies Taylor’s exhibition “The Story of Stripes and Dots (Chapter 5)” at Fogo Island Gallery, which follows his two-part residency with Fogo Island Arts in 2010 and 2012. Featuring essays by Zoë Gray and Saelan Twerdy, and Taylor in conversation with Patrick Staff and Robin Simpson, the book also presents the artist’s portfolio An Index Describing the Individual 19 Thoughts about Stripes and Dots Arranged on a Vitrine Made of Brass and Glass.

4 1/2

An absorbing monograph on the first European solo exhibition for New York-based Venezuelan filmmaker, Javier Téllez, participant in two Venice Biennials (2001 and 2003) and the 2008 Whitney Biennial. Téllez’s work operates in the interface between fiction and documentary that developed through the auteur movement, to challenge Hollywood’s emphasis on story above all. Perhaps the most successful is his film La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc, in which he juxtaposes, in a dual projection, a reworking of the 1928 silent film of the same title with statements made by 12 psychiatric patients. The resulting film illustrates how easy it is to compare heroism with schizophrenia, asking where the line stands between “normal” and “abnormal”. Also featured is an interview by fellow artist Pedro Reyes, along with four additional essays.

Aquaholism

This artist’s book came about through Tedja’s inclusion in the recent Stedelijk
exhibition How Far How Near exploring recent acquisitions of African-based
artists along with domestic and international works already in the collection.
Part exhibition catalog, artistic treatise, poetry collection, visual essay and artist’s
book, Aquaholism is a polyphonic collage of text and image comprising over
17 years of Michael Tedja’s drawing, painting, sculpture and curatorial work.
“Aquaholism” is the act of collecting these fragments, and the collector, the
“Aquaholist,” scrutinizes discoveries in a transparent and closed aquarium—a
space whose contents remain in motion. By presenting the artist as an active
linguist who translates form and text from studio to exhibition to public spaces,
Tedja opens up established systems of sociopolitics, identification and aesthetics
and his works live beyond their initial conception. Contributions by Nav Haq,
Martijn van Nieuwenhuyzen and an artist interview by Robert van Altena.

Performing Change

Performing Change, a collection of interviews by Berlin-based Dutch artist Mathilde ter Heijne (b. 1969), explores the idea of open-ended, collaborative art processes and their transformative potential beyond the confines of art. Designed as an artist’s book and published in conjunction with her exhibition at the Museum für Freie Kunst, Freiburg, the book includes handwritten revisions, annotations and drawings from contributors including voodoo priest Togbé Hounon-Hounougbo Bahounsou and priestess Mamissi DaPovi, women from the Kartal Kadın Ürünleri Pazarı (Women’s Products Market) in Istanbul, shaman Ayahuasca and biologist Ulrich Meyerratken, ceremonial magic anthropologist Susan Greenwood and artists, curators and critics Sabeth Buchmann, Anselm Franke, Elke Bippus, Amy Patton, Mark Kremer, Janne Schäfer and Kristine Agergaard. Ter Heijne is recognized for her work in video, performance and installation and is a founding member of ƒƒ, an evolving and collaborative network of international feminist artists.